Just out of interest, apart from Buddhism, what other religions or philosophies/ers do you get inspiration from?

for myself its atheism, agnosticism and the materialist philosophy. However i do find some inspiration for eastern orthodox leanings towards monasticism and contemplation as well as some respect for jainist asceticism

As for teachers/philosophers i have respect for Epicurus, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, all of them i draw some measure of inspiration from

He who binds to himself a joyDoes the wingèd life destroy;But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity's sunrise.

My personal experience is that nothing else is inspiring except to the extent that it contains some taste of Dhamma. When I find that some religion or philosophy is inspiring, I eventually realize it's because of an overlap with the Dhamma.

Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,But never soddens what is open;Uncover, then, what is concealed,Lest it be soddened by the rain.

Jechbi wrote:My personal experience is that nothing else is inspiring except to the extent that it contains some taste of Dhamma. When I find that some religion or philosophy is inspiring, I eventually realize it's because of an overlap with the Dhamma.

I agree, the ones i mentioned seemed to resonate with me beacause they contain some Dhamma

He who binds to himself a joyDoes the wingèd life destroy;But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity's sunrise.

Only in a vertical view, straight down into the abyss of his own personal existence, is a man capable of apprehending the perilous insecurity of his situation; and only a man who does apprehend this is prepared to listen to the Buddha's Teaching.Nanavira Thera - Notes on Dhamma

I don't care how sad it makes me, I LOVE The Matrix. Yesterday my wife was at work, so I sat down and watched the trillogy throughout and then the animatrix in one sitting. I'm still studying the commentaries, but the Matrix Canon itself is absolutely FASCINATING.

But, like all great religions, there is some corruption. Did you know there is a group of people calling 'Matrixism' a religion, but I'm not at all happy with them, it's a corruption I tell you. Take, for example, their four 'tenets':

1) Belief in the prophecy of the One.2) Use of psychedelics (mind expansion medicine) as sacrament.3) Seeing the relative nature of the world.4) Acting by the rules of one of the world's religion's.

Firstly, belief in "The prophecy of the One" generally shows that they've not understood the latter two films, but we won't get into existentialism here. Secondly, the use of drugs as sacrament?! At no point in the Matrix trillogy (or the Animatrix) are the use of drugs promoted. You never see Neo taking drugs. Where do they get this from?! Thirdly, seeing the relative nature of the world = they've not understood the meaning behind the trillogy. Too often I see people talking about the Matrix and referring to the "real world" and the "Matrix"... the point is that both realities are equally false, that neither is in any way more tangible than the other, it's a nested simulated reality, a reality within a reality within a reality (ad infinatum), so what's this "relative nature of the world"? Fourthly, acting by the rules of one of the world's religions? Why? What reason is there for this? The true message behind the Matrix is that of non-existence, of this illusion of 'self', that all these people within the matrix were under an illusion and those who rejected it were able to accept a more sinister illusion, but still another illusion. Only be abandoning 'self' was neo able to come to realise the true nature of reality... so why follow these religions?

So, yeah, I love the Matrix. Do I believe that the philosophies behind the Matrix are true? I don't know, and I don't know if I can know. I have confidence, however, that this 'religion' called Matrixism is a made-up joke by people who simply want to take drugs and be 'different' within an umbrella identity. Such a shame that a profound film like the Matrix is so little understand.

(Did you ever notice how each time you see the Oracle she is at a different stage in making cookies? Did you ever notice that each time she's a stage behind? Did you notice that when she gave Neo a cookie and said "when you've finished eating it, you'll be right as rain"? Did you notice that the Oracle perceives time backwards (hence why she can remember things from the future if she can understand those memories), so when she says "when you've finished eating it" she is referring to a time before hand, to the past (from our frame of reference)... to before he took the red pill? i.e. Neo was told by the Oracle that he'd be "right as rain" in blissful ignorance? But then, did you ever notice it rain in what's called the "real world"?)

(Did you ever notice that when the Architect says those who want to be freed will be (at the end of the trillogy), this is no different to before all this... those who rejected the Matrix were allowed to exist... after all this, there was no change to the system?)

(Did you notice in the first film tank says "he's a machine" when uploading fighting techniques into Neo? Or that Thomas Anderson's boss at the software company says "you believe the rules do not apply to you, obviously you are mistaken"? Did you put the clues together when you heard the programs discussing love in the train station... that the "humans" and the "programs" are equally as "real" in the matrix? Or when Agent Smith was able to leave the confines of the Matrix via a different body, that the human body and the machines are also equally as real?)

(Did you notice that neo was able to see the Matrix as code at the end of the first film, by the end of the third film he was able to see what was called the "real world" as code too, albiet a code without the abitrary characters of the Matrix, it was a code stored in binary fractals? To make it more obvious, the code of the "real world" was yellow and the code of the Matrix was green, but at one scene, the opening scene to the third film, you see that the green Matrix code was constructed from the yellow "real world" code? One illusion built on another?)

(If you ever watched the animatrix, the ninth short film "Matriculated" actually discusses the idea of the "real world" being no more real, and even that the machines have volition, just as humans do... there is no difference, all are the same, the only reality (and the problem) is choice)

Aaaanyway, I love the Matrix. Okay, so it's not a religion BUT it is an amazing study in existentialism. I imagine most people here would have picked up on those few points I mention above (they're not THAT subtle, but there are more subtle points. I could go on and on for hours ) but the majory of people I meet simply have no idea and think the film is just another little scifi film.

<sighs> I love the Matrix... I'm going to go and study the commentaries a bit more...

Hi MawkThat is a lovely piece. But I recommend the next time your wife goes to work for the day, get outside and get some sunshine!Take care my friend!

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Just out of interest, apart from Buddhism, what other religions or philosophies/ers do you get inspiration from?

for myself its atheism, agnosticism and the materialist philosophy. However i do find some inspiration for eastern orthodox leanings towards monasticism and contemplation as well as some respect for jainist asceticism

As for teachers/philosophers i have respect for Epicurus, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, all of them i draw some measure of inspiration from

I don't care how sad it makes me, I LOVE The Matrix. Yesterday my wife was at work, so I sat down and watched the trillogy throughout and then the animatrix in one sitting. I'm still studying the commentaries, but the Matrix Canon itself is absolutely FASCINATING

.

If we are talking about films as well, then i have to say Star Wars. Has some Buddhist concepts in it, plus they are brilliant films

He who binds to himself a joyDoes the wingèd life destroy;But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity's sunrise.

I forget you live in Manchester and your summers are eerily like our winters. http://www.weatherzone.com.au/tas/centr ... launcestonBut I've got to confess, I love winter, and I especially love the rain.And for these co-inhabitants who complain bitterly about the weather, they don't know how luxuriant and comfortable their lives are.

For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the diaries of Joyce & Richards who were part of the depot-laying party of Shackleton's failed Endurance/Aurora Expedition to cross Antarctica by foot in 1914-1917.

'Still blizzarding', wrote Joyce again on the 21st. "we are lying in pools of water made by our bodies through staying in the same place for such a long time. I don't know what we will do if this does not ease. It has been blowing coninuously without a lull. The food for today was one cup of pemmican amongst three of us, one biscuit each, and two cups of tea among the three". The kerosene was exhausted, but Richards improvised a lamp by pouring some spirit (intended for priming the oil lamp) into a mug, lighting it, and holding another mug over it. It took half an hour to heat a mug of melted snow in this way. "Same old thing, no ceasing of this blizzard." was Joyce's note twenty four hours later. "Hardly any food left except tea and sugar. Richards, Hayward and I, after a long talk, decided to get under way romorrow in any case, or else we shall be sharing the fate of Captain Scott and his party. The other tent seems to be very quiet, but now and again we hear a burst of song from Wild, so they are in the land of the living. We gave the dogs the last of their food tonight, so we shall have to push, as a great deal depends on them"...

If you get time out from your studies, I highly recommend 'South: the endurance expedition'Kind regards

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Ben wrote:For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the diaries of Joyce & Richards who were part of the depot-laying party of Shackleton's failed Endurance/Aurora Expedition to cross Antarctica by foot in 1914-1917

Scary scary stuff. But then, keeping it on a movie theme (paraphrasing):